Choices
by Orenda
Summary: Everyone has choices to make in life... Even ducks. *Completed* I had to reload, so please send new reviews if you can..
1. Confusion

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back again. I know that I never finished my last fic, but I promise that I will finish it eventually ::blushes:: I don't want to give to much away, but the idea for this came to me because I was thinking about all of the stories that people wrote about bringing Canard back. I don't have anything against any of them (some are quite good ^-^), but I decided to change the "basic" story around a bit. Hope you enjoy it.  
  
I'm also sending out a million thanks to Icelightning for fixing all of my little mistakes so this would be a better fic. ::Smiles and waves to Icelightning::  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own the Mighty Ducks, just the same as everyone else here (I think), so don't sue me.  
  
Choices  
  
By Orenda  
  
Chapter One - Confusion  
  
A television screen showed a familiar hockey rink to viewers all across Anaheim. It was a television ad, being shown for the third time in the past hour.  
  
"Do your kids love hockey?" the announcer boomed, "Can they not get enough of the Mighty Ducks? Well, here's your chance to make their dreams come true. In this one time only opportunity, Anaheim's own Mighty Ducks will be hosting a youth hockey camp. For one week your children can learn how to play hockey from some of the best players in the league. There is limited enrollment, so register today! For more information, please call-"  
  
Dragaunus shut off the television signal in disgust. Those stupid ducks! He couldn't stand how they always defeated him. Even with Canard out of the picture, they still triumphed every time.  
  
"Canard. . ." the overlord muttered under his breath. That duck had been such an annoyance back on Puckworld. At least he had managed to destroy that particular accursed duck. But wait! Could it really be possible that maybe. . . no, he couldn't have survived dimensional limbo. Yet a nagging voice in the back of his mind was telling him otherwise. The Saurians had been imprisoned there, and they had managed to escape. The duck wouldn't have the resources to escape like they did, but knowing how those annoying ducks had the knack of survive everything he threw at them, he had a feeling that their former leader was probably still around somewhere in limbo.  
  
So the duck was still a possible enemy, he decided. But what if he could take and use this duck to his advantage? It would be very easy to. yes, that's what he'd do. This would be the perfect plan. None of the ducks would be able to stop him this time.  
  
"Wraith!" he yelled. "Get in here!"  
  
Soon the mystical Saurian was before him, "What is it my lord?"  
  
"We need to conserve all of the Raptor's energy for the dimensional gateway. Then I have a special assignment for you. We're going to take the Ducks by surprise this time, and we will take over this miserable planet!"  
  
The sound of evil laughter filled the room as Wraith left to pass the word on to Siege and the Chameleon.  
  
*****  
  
"Tanya, are you sure this is a good idea?" Nosedive nervously asked.  
  
"Of course it is," she replied. "The worst that could happen would be, you know, like a very minor miscalculation."  
  
"Thanks, I'm so reassured now," Dive said sarcastically.  
  
The two ducks were standing in Tanya's lab. Tanya had been working on her latest idea for quite some time now, and even though she was confident in its formula, she still had to test it on someone. So when she enlisted Nosedive as her test subject, he was more than skeptical about what was going to happen to him.  
  
Her project was a bluish-colored liquid. Her objective was to make an energy drink, so that if Dragaunus were to attack, for example, after an extremely tiring hockey game, they would be able to have more strength to defeat him more easily. She had taken some of Earth's energy drinks and bars, to study them, and decided they wouldn't work on ducks. So by taking the important ingredients and adding her own special chemical to the mix, it could help a great deal in possibly capturing Dragaunus. That is, it would be if she could get Nosedive to try it so she could see the effects it would have on the youngest team member.  
  
" I don't know. . ." Dive said, attempting to avoid drinking the liquid. "I don't really trust something that's blue."  
  
"Oh, come on," Tanya insisted. "I promise that it's not, um, toxic, so it won't kill you. Besides, don't you eat blue snow cones from concessions after a, uh, game sometimes?"  
  
Nosedive sighed in defeat, "Oh, fine. But if I do die from this stuff, my brother will come after you."  
  
"Actually, I'm the one who told her to use you as the guinea pig," Wildwing said as he walked into the room."  
  
Dive pretended to be hurt, "You would use your favorite little brother like this?"  
  
Wildwing paused to act like he was thinking. "Yup," he nodded.  
  
"I feel so loved," Dive pouted.  
  
"Of course you are. I figured you'd be the best one to try it. So come on, and help Tanya out," Wing urged.  
  
Dive still shook his head, "Nope. I don't want it."  
  
Wing had an idea, "Tell you what, baby bro. If you try Tanya's drink to see if it works, I'll buy you a new video game, whatever you want."  
  
Nosedive brightened with the bribe, "Really?"  
  
"Sure. Now you don't have to drink all of it, right Tanya?"  
  
The scientist nodded, "I'd rather that he didn't. If it's too strong, he'll be bouncing off the, um, walls if he has too much."  
  
Knowing he didn't have anymore choices, Dive carefully picked up the bluish liquid. He looked at with some more skepticism, then slowly brought it up to his mouth. After consuming some of it, he handed it back to Tanya.  
  
"Well? How do you feel?" she asked.  
  
Dive was silent for a moment, letting the taste sink in. "It's not bad," he commented. "But I don't really feel any different."  
  
Tanya slumped in disappointment, "I was sure that it would work. . ."  
  
Suddenly, Dive shivered as a rush of energy hit him. "Whoa. . ." he gasped as Wing set a hand on his shoulder to steady him.  
  
"Are you okay, Dive?" Wing asked with concern.  
  
Dive looked at him and suddenly started laughing, "Wow, your voice sounds funny," he giggled. His laughter increased as they both gave him puzzling looks.  
  
"I don't know what's so funny about it," Wing looked at him with a puzzled expression.  
  
"You sound like the time when Canard drenched you with that squirt gun and your feathers froze together. You couldn't move for hours!" Dive said with tears of laughter rolling down his face.  
  
Tanya looked over at Wing with amusement, who began blushing at the memory.  
  
"Tanya, what did you put in this stuff?" Wing asked, only causing his brother to laugh even harder.  
  
"Well. . ." she started, but Dive interrupted her.  
  
"Hey Tawny, let me have some more, this is fun!" he exclaimed.  
  
He took off running out of the room. Worried that he would hurt something, or himself, the two ducks took off after him. With Wing being close at his heels, they managed to catch Dive before he could get to the living room. Wing grabbed onto his shoulders and managed to keep him from getting away. Dive had starting laughing again, and his whole body started shaking. Suddenly, he simply stopped struggling and looked at Wing with a glazed look in his eyes.  
  
"Wing, I don't feel so great. . ." he managed to say before passing out.  
  
Wing caught his limp form before he fell to the floor, "Tanya, I don't think this was such a good idea."  
  
"Maybe not," she agreed.  
  
*****  
  
There was nothing. It was as if life had ended for him. He had been trapped in limbo for so long he barely remembered anything about his life. Memories started to drift away, now images of the past were slowly fading. The duck had survived the worm, but now there wasn't much left of him. But he had no regrets. When he used to have his memory, he knew that his friends were safe because of him, and he was satisfied with that. But he was so far out of it when the Saurian appeared before him that he didn't even remember the war. He didn't resist when the Saurian took him, and everything went black for him shortly after that.  
  
*****  
  
"Is he alright?" Duke asked as four of the Ducks were gathered in the Ready Room.  
  
"Dive's fine," Wing told them. "He's asleep right now, and Tanya says that he probably won't wake up until some time tomorrow."  
  
"So you mean we'll actually have a quiet afternoon for once?" Mallory asked. "No pranks or anything?"  
  
"I shall be able to maintain my inner peace and tranquility," Grin nodded.  
  
"Come on," Wing said in Dive's defense. "He's not that bad, he's just a kid."  
  
"Yeah, I know," Mallory told him. "I was just kidding."  
  
"Anyway," Wing continued, "I'd still like to have practice today without Dive. We won't get an opportunity to next week with all of the kids coming for that camp."  
  
"They aren't stayin' here at the Pond for that, are they?" Duke asked.  
  
"No," Wing assured him. "Phil promised that it was only a day camp. The kids will come from about ten until four, and we'll help them to play hockey better."  
  
"Sounds better than a photo shoot or something," Mallory commented.  
  
Wing nodded, "It's actually sounds like one of Phil's better ideas for public appearances."  
  
"Let's just hope Draggy stays out of it, though," Duke added.  
  
If only they knew what was going to come in the next few days.  
  
*****  
  
The tan duck groaned and slowly opened his eyes. Where was he? What was going on? He noticed that he was tied down to a table, and seemed unable to move his head in either direction.  
  
"So you've decided to join us," said a voice that was just out of his line of sight.  
  
"Who are you? What do you want with me?" The duck had no memory, yet the voice seemed familiar and he didn't trust it.  
  
"Why, Canard, I'm disappointed in you. Don't you know who I am?"  
  
Canard. . . that name, where had he. . . Suddenly, everything hit him like a bolt of lightning. He was Canard, and he was the leader of a team of ducks from Puckworld. And that voice was. . .  
  
"Dragaunus. . ." Canard spat with hatred in his voice.  
  
"Congratulations, you've remembered. And now Wraith is going to turn you into my personal slave." The Saurian overlord finally came into view.  
  
"You can't make me do anything!" he yelled. "And if you've done anything to my team, I'll. . ."  
  
"You'll what?" Dragaunus broke in. "You're unable to move, and by the time Wraith is done torturing you you'll be doing everything I say, including capturing your own teammates."  
  
"I'd rather die! I'll never hurt them!" His eyes now held fear, but it was fear for the other ducks, not himself.  
  
"I figured you would say that. I'm taking an extra precaution by erasing your memory again. You won't even know the difference. And this time, you won't be getting it back."  
  
The Saurian turned away for a moment, continuing, "Wraith, he's all yours."  
  
With an evil laugh, he left the room. Soon Wraith appeared in his sight, but Canard's fear for the danger his team kept him silent.  
  
"This should be fun," Wraith said ominously.  
  
Soon the sound of screams filled the air.  
  
*****  
  
The rest of the day was very uneventful for the other ducks. They practiced for awhile, then they each split off to pursue their own individual activities. Tanya went back to working on her formula, but decided against trying it on anyone for awhile. Grin had left to go to the weight room to work out, along with Duke. Mallory and Wilding were watching a movie, and Nosedive was still asleep. It was a lazy afternoon, because it had started to rain and the ducks were confined inside.  
  
They had all ended up watching a hockey game together that night, with two ducks ending up richer from a certain bet that was placed. Another bet was placed on what time Nosedive would wake up the next day, and even Grin had gotten in on the occasion.  
  
So all in all, the day hadn't been so terrible after the fiasco in Tanya's lab. And the Ducks would have gladly gone back to that day if they had the choice.  
  
*****  
  
Canard heard voices whispering to him and echoing in his mind constantly. The pain he had felt was gone, but now there was a nothingness that had taken over. Now, his energy was slowly being drained from him by an unknown source, but he had a strong feeling that it was Wraith's doing.  
  
"Give in to us," the voices said. "There is no other way. . ."  
  
"No!" he screamed inside of his head, "I won't do this! My team doesn't deserve this. Wildwing doesn't deserve this."  
  
"Of course he does. . . He left you to die in limbo. He doesn't care about you at all. . . None of them do. . ."  
  
"That's not true! It was my decision to sacrifice myself. Wildwing is probably being a good leader for them."  
  
"Is that what you think? His decisions as leader are solely based on his brother. The team is nothing to him. . . All they want is power, the power to take over everyone. . ."  
  
"No. . ." Canard was getting weaker by the second. "All we want is our planet back."  
  
"You shall have it back then," they whispered, "but you must understand that the Mighty Ducks are the evil ones, not us. . . Help us. . . and we will give you peace. . . an end to all of your suffering. . . Everything will be good once again. . ."  
  
"End. . . everything. . ." he had very little strength left by now, and the voices only seemed to be getting stronger.  
  
"Yes. . . that's it. . ." the voices soothed him, "Just rest for now. . . be at peace. . . Forget about them. We will help you to forget. . ."  
  
With nothing left to fight with, the mallard's thoughts drifted into the darkness before disappearing completely.  
  
*****  
  
Dragaunus paced impatiently back and forth across the floor in the Raptor's main chamber. He had left Wraith alone to perform his work, but now his anger was slowly building. What was taking so long anyway? He wanted results, and he wanted them soon.  
  
Wraith finally emerged from the room he had been occupying for the past two hours and bowed before him.  
  
"Well?" Dragaunus snapped.  
  
"He is very strong, my lord. But it was successful in the end," Wraith announced. "And when he awakens, he will be at your command."  
  
"Excellent," the overlord beamed. "Then tomorrow we shall begin the plan."  
  
*****  
  
The next morning, everyone, minus Grin and Dive, was sitting on the sofa talking about this or that when Nosedive stumbled into the room.  
  
"Hey, it emerges!" Duke teased. "You've been asleep for, what, about twenty hours or somethin'?"  
  
Nosedive barely even noticed Duke said anything as he took a seat next to his brother.  
  
"Feeling better now, baby bro?" Wing asked.  
  
"Sort of," he mumbled. "What happened anyway?"  
  
"Basically," Tanya told him, "You had a rush of energy before you passed out."  
  
"Oh yeah," Dive yawned. "Bro, you can be the guinea pig next time. And you owe me a new video game."  
  
"Yes I do Dive," Wing nodded. "We can go shopping when you're up to it."  
  
"Later," Dive agreed, still not quite awake yet. He laid his head against Wing's shoulder.  
  
"Hey, it's 9:30," Duke observed. "I believe that I was the closest."  
  
After some disappointed groans, Duke was handed money from each duck, other than Wing who hadn't participated and Nosedive himself, of course. Dive, however, either didn't notice what was going on or was too tired to really care.  
  
No one spoke for a moment. Dive probably would've fallen asleep again had it not been for Drake One's alarm suddenly blaring throughout the Pond. After some complaining, all of the ducks, including Dive, clambered over to the supercomputer.  
  
"There's some major teleportation energy coming from downtown," Tanya exclaimed.  
  
"I knew it was too good to last." Mallory grumbled.  
  
"Well team, we'd better check it out," Wildwing said with authority. "Can you handle it, baby bro?"  
  
Dive nodded, "I'm awake. Just give me some caffeine and I can take on Lizard Lips on my own."  
  
Duke laughed, "I'm sure you could, kid. I'm sure you could."  
  
*****  
  
The Saurians had teleported to the park, taking Canard with them. Dragaunus came personally just to make sure operations went smoothly. It had stopped raining over the night, and the sun had dried things up fairly quickly.  
  
The Saurian overlord looked into the eyes of the duck, "Now, do you understand what you're supposed to do?"  
  
The tan mallard looked back at him with a coldness that had never been in his eyes before, "Perfectly."  
  
Dragaunus gave him an evil grin, "I knew you would. And I know that you'll make me proud. Just stick with the plan as much as possible, and those ducks will be as good as gone!"  
  
"Yes, my lord," Canard bowed his head.  
  
"Then let's get out of here," Chameleon urged. He wasn't very fond of the entire plan, and he'd rather be far away when the commotion started.  
  
"Very well," Dragaunus agreed. "You'd better make me proud, Canard."  
  
The Saurians disappeared, leaving Canard alone. He stopped to examine his surroundings. What would be a good way to get attention from people? If he was injured, the ducks would take pity on him, he finally decided. Unable to think of a better option, he pulled out the laser weapon given to him by Dragaunus. Making sure no one was watching, he carefully aimed it at his left leg. He fired it, and winced slightly in pain from the shot. He limped over to a spot under a tree and laid on the grass. It was still slightly damp from the rain, but it wasn't so wet as to be a nuisance. He closed his eyes, pretending to be unconscious. If I play this right, Canard thought, the ducks will fall right into our trap.  
  
*****  
  
The Migrator didn't get very far before they discovered the trouble. A crowd of people had gathered around the entrance of the main park. Upon further investigation, they noticed a familiar police car parked close by.  
  
"Aww, man. Does Klegghorn have to get involved in everything?" Nosedive complained, now almost completely himself again.  
  
"Of course," Wing replied absently as walked over towards the commotion.  
  
Klegghorn walked over to meet them. "You ducks," he scowled. "This better not be another one of those publicity stunts of yours."  
  
"What's going on?" Wildwing asked.  
  
"You mean you don't know? I figured this guy must be a friend of yours," he gestured towards the area where the crowd had gathered.  
  
Mallory, Duke, and Nosedive went closer to investigate. And what they saw shocked them.  
  
"Bro'," Dive called with wide eyes, "You'd better check this out. . ."  
  
The others soon joined them, also getting caught in the sudden shock. Wing's hands instantly flew up to the mask.  
  
"Canard, is that you?"  
  
To Be Continued  
  
A/N: So how was it? I'm conducting a poll of my readers: Would you like me to continue this first, or should I finish "One Wish"? I'm going to do both, but I'd like to know which one seems more interesting. If anyone wants to e-mail me, my address is orenda@angelfire.com . But I will keep writing and hope to hear from my readers. Later! 


	2. Betrayal

A/N: Hello, it's me again! After many, many frustrating hours of working on this, I finally managed to come out with another chapter. Yay me! Hope everyone thinks it was worth waiting for. especially after all the trouble a few certain scenes gave me. oh well, it's my fault for writing them I guess. Anyway, enjoy! ^-^  
  
Choices  
  
By Orenda  
  
Chapter Two - Betrayal  
  
"So Canard, care to explain how you ended up on Earth?" Wildwing was glad that his friend had survived, but he had learned over time that what something unexpected happened, it was best to treat it with caution.  
  
The ducks had returned back to the Pond and were now gathered in the infirmary to hear Canard's side of the story. His leg had been bandaged, and the weapon which had shot him had been confiscated by Tanya to be taken apart and studied.  
  
For now, all attention was focused on Canard. Everyone had been so excited about his sudden appearance that no one had questioned it until that moment. Wildwing remained at his best friend's side the entire time, relieved that Canard hadn't met his doom. In fact, they were all so relieved that they failed to notice his change in attitude.  
  
Nosedive had noticed it, however. He was sitting on one of the beds next to Grin, not really apart of the discussion taking place. It wasn't really because he didn't like Canard, even though that was part of the reason, but more because he had noticed something was wrong with this whole thing. Something was different about their former leader, but Nosedive wasn't sure what it was yet, so he kept his beak shut, not wanting to voice his opinion until he was certain of what the problem was. For now he was content with sitting by Grin, listening.  
  
"Well," Canard began, "I'm still not completely sure of it myself."  
  
"Just tell us what you k-know then," Tanya suggested.  
  
Canard nodded to her before continuing, "Let's see. I guess that I've been stuck in limbo for some time, right?"  
  
"About a year now," Mallory informed him.  
  
"Wow, it has been a while, hasn't it? Anyway, time passes differently there I think, but I kept going in and out of consciousness, so I'm not sure. It's sort of a nothing place, like a void. I think I saw someone there, but I don't recall who it was. Then all of a sudden, I found myself outside. I was trying to figure out what had happened when Dragaunus appeared out of nowhere. I sort of remember getting shot, and then nothing again. The next time I woke up all of you were there."  
  
"And that's it?" Duke asked.  
  
"As much as I can remember," he replied.  
  
"That's okay, Canard," Wildwing stood up and stretched. "It's just nice to have you back. Now as for the rest of you, we're having practice in about two hours."  
  
There were several groans, but were easily silenced with one look from their leader, "I know, but we have to perform at our best." He turned to Canard, "I'd say that you could play with us, but I know Tanya wouldn't want you to until your leg is healed. So get acquainted with the Pond if you want, since you'll probably be stuck here with us for a while."  
  
"And don't be, you know, walking around too much," Tanya added.  
  
"Sure thing, Tanya," Canard nodded. He then turned his gaze to the far corner of the room, "What's the matter, kid? You'd usually be talking up a storm by now."  
  
Suddenly all attention was drawn to Nosedive, who had been sitting quietly this whole time. He shifted uncomfortably from the sudden unwanted attention.  
  
"Nothing," he said, attempting to come up with an excuse, "I'm just. . . not awake yet from before."  
  
Canard threw Wildwing a questioning glance, which the mallard returned with a look that said 'I'll explain later'.  
  
Wildwing looked back at Nosedive, "Are you sure you're okay, baby bro'?"  
  
Nosedive thought about saying no, but decided to wait on sharing his feelings. He didn't like how this situation was becoming at all, but he also didn't want the others to know that yet, especially Canard.  
  
"Yeah. . ." the teen nodded as he stood up. "I want to go do some stuff, so I'll see you guys at practice."  
  
With that he left the room, leaving the others in a mild state of confusion of this sudden change in their teammate.  
  
*****  
  
Nosedive walked into the kitchen a little while later, intending to refill his water bottle for practice. Canard was there, sitting at the table glancing through a magazine. He looked up at the teen and smiled, "Hey kid!"  
  
Nosedive felt a chill run down his spine. "Hey. . ." he said quietly. He had never been very comfortable around Canard, but now, after the mallard's sudden return, he was starting to feel scared of him. Not wanting to stay in the room alone with him, Nosedive quickly went over to the sink to accomplish what he'd come there for.  
  
"So. . . Dive. . . We have some catching up to do, don't you think? It's been quite awhile since we've hung out together," Canard friendly noted.  
  
"Um, I guess. . ." he replied while replacing the cap to his newly-filled water bottle. "I have practice right now, though. There's a game coming up soon."  
  
Canard nodded, "Of course. It's good to hear that all of you are keeping your hockey skills sharp. I'll see you later then, right?"  
  
"Yeah," Nosedive responded unenthusiastically. He turned and bolted out the door, wanting to get out of there.  
  
Canard's smile quickly faded as soon as the teen was gone. "Stupid kid," he muttered.  
  
After waiting for a minute to make sure that he didn't come back, Canard reached down into the pouch at his waist and pulled out a black wrist communicator. He took one cautious glance around the room before activating it.  
  
Lord Dragaunus's face appeared suddenly just above the unit, "What is your status?"  
  
"I'm in," Canard told him. "They're all buying it. . . except for the kid. He knows something's up."  
  
"Well. . . We'll have to play him to our advantage then. How does he act around you?"  
  
"Terrified. . . Like he should be," he beamed. "He doesn't like it when I try to be nice to him."  
  
"Perfect," the Saurian beamed. "Just keep it up. Make sure that you're extra nice to him. The others will think that you are a better duck now. If they see you being nice to him, they'll be on your side. . ."  
  
"Yes, that should work. And Wildwing will be so happy to know that I actually care about his precious baby brother."  
  
"Just remember. . . keep the charade up for a couple of days. Gain their trust. . . and then bring one of them back here to me," Dragaunus let out an evil laugh before ending the transmission.  
  
"This should be fun," Canard grinned as he placed the communicator back into his pocket before heading out of the kitchen.  
  
*****  
  
And so things didn't get much better. For the next two days, Canard sort of became a shadow to Nosedive. Every time the teen turned around, he was there. Canard was constantly asking to do things with him, things including going out and having fun. And for as long as Nosedive had known the mallard, going out to have fun with someone of a younger age, such as himself, was very rare, if ever. He tried to shrug Canard off, not trusting the tan mallard, but Canard always seemed to come back, and that was what scared Nosedive the most.  
  
So of course Nosedive was worried about this sudden change in behavior. And when he tried to tell the others they just said that Canard must have changed while in limbo. He seemed to work well with everyone, and Wildwing had even mentioned how glad he was that they were finally getting along after all of this time.  
  
Wildwing was completely oblivious to the situation. . . At least Nosedive thought so. The team captain had been very busy lately, working on a variety of different things that were not of his choosing, and was kept occupied most of the time. Phil had been working on the youth training camp coming up, and now he was pulling Wildwing along for the ride.  
  
But after two days of dealing with this "new" Canard, Nosedive had had enough. He was positive that something was wrong, so he decided that it was time to have a talk with his brother.  
  
*****  
  
Nosedive finally got his chance the next afternoon. It had been raining outside all morning, and it didn't look like it was going to let up for a while.  
  
Wildwing had been sitting in the Ready Room, filling out some long and complicated form that Phil had begged him to do. He looked up and smiled as Nosedive walked into the room.  
  
"Hey, baby bro'!"  
  
Nosedive gave him a small smile in return as he sat down next to him, "Hey."  
  
"Something wrong?" Wildwing asked.  
  
"Well. . . yeah."  
  
"Care to talk about it?"  
  
Nosedive nodded, and Wildwing put the stack of papers aside, giving Nosedive his full attention.  
  
"So what's this about?"  
  
"Canard," Nosedive sighed.  
  
Wildwing waited for him to continue.  
  
"It's just. . . I don't like how he's been acting lately. He follows me around everywhere and wants me to do stuff with him."  
  
"And. . . you don't like it," Wildwing offered.  
  
Nosedive shook his head, "Not really. I think he's up to something."  
  
"Dive, don't you think that maybe Canard could have changed his mind about you? He's heard about all of the things you've done to contribute to this team; maybe he knows he was wrong before and wants to make it up to you."  
  
"Sorry bro', but I don't think so. He's really starting to give me the creeps. . ."  
  
Wildwing laughed softly and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, "Have you even tried giving him a chance? I know how Canard can get sometimes, but I also know that you don't put forth much effort into getting along with him, either."  
  
"No, this is different, I swear. I mean, he's acting a lot worse than normal. He's even been calling me 'kid'. Wing, only Duke calls me that."  
  
"Dive, I'm sure it's nothing to get so upset over."  
  
Nosedive raised his voice a little, "Nothing to get upset over? Look, I'm sorry, but it is to me. I'm glad you've got your best friend back and all, but I'm telling you I don't like this whole deal. It's reeking with trouble, bro'!"  
  
Wildwing, who wasn't really thinking straight under all of his current stress, replied, "Oh, now I see what it is. You're just jealous because you're not the center of attention anymore, is that it?"  
  
Nosedive glared at his brother, "Of course not! I just think that something's not right about this whole thing!"  
  
"And I know why," Wildwing's voice was bitter. "It's not my fault that you never got along with him, so don't take it out on me!"  
  
"I. . . I wasn't. . ." Nosedive was a bit taken aback from Wildwing's sudden change in attitude.  
  
Wildwing was beyond thinking by now, "Yes you were! What's wrong with you, anyway? Nosedive, I'm surprised! My feelings must not mean anything to you!"  
  
Unable to say anything, Nosedive just stared at him in shock, tears starting to fill his eyes.  
  
Wildwing pressed on, "You know what? Just forget it! You should of just let me die back at that pit with Daddy O' Cool. Then you wouldn't have to worry about it anymore!"  
  
Duke chose that moment to enter the room.  
  
"Hi guys," he greeted, and after seeing the look on Nosedive's face added, "Sorry, is there a problem?"  
  
Nosedive finally couldn't take anymore. He stared coldly at Wildwing as the tears starting running down his cheeks.  
  
"How. . . How c-could you? I would n-never. . ." he choked.  
  
With that, Nosedive bolted out of the room, pushing Duke out of his way as he went past. He had to get out of there! He ran blindly at first, not sure where he was going. Then he realized he was going in the direction of the bedrooms. So the teen ran into his, collapsing onto his bed sobbing. What was wrong with his brother, to say such horrible things to him?  
  
Wildwing watched his brother leave. He stared at the doorway, a blank look on his face.  
  
Duke walked over and sat down next to his team captain and friend, "Wing? You okay?"  
  
Wildwing didn't seem to register that Duke had said anything. He just continued to stare out into space.  
  
"Wildwing?" the gray mallard gently shook his shoulder.  
  
After another moment of staring Wildwing finally blinked and looked over at the former thief, "Did I really just. . ? And Dive. . ?"  
  
"Well, ya certainly said something to upset him," Duke nodded solemnly.  
  
As everything that had just happened began to sink in, Wildwing leaned back against the couch, a hand on his forehead. He couldn't believe it. . . he had just upset his brother for no good reason at all. After all of the times he had told Nosedive that he could come and talk to him about anything. . .  
  
He looked up as he felt his shoulder being squeezed.  
  
"I know you didn't mean it," Duke noted, "and Nosedive probably knows it too."  
  
Wildwing sighed, rubbing at his temples, "I just. . . I don't know what came over me. I must be more tired than I thought." He paused for a minute, "I should probably go talk to him, huh?"  
  
"Well he's your brother, so do what you want, but maybe you should wait a little bit longer. The kid's obviously really upset. . . he probably wouldn't even wanna talk to you yet."  
  
Wildwing slowly nodded; that was probably the case. "Yeah. I. . . I think I'll go get something to drink first. Then I'll go talk to him."  
  
"You want me to come?" Duke asked, concerned about how Nosedive would react. The brothers had gotten into fights before, and the teen had a tendency not to react very well to them afterwards.  
  
"No. . . don't worry about it. I created the problem, so I have to fix it."  
  
Now Wildwing could only hope that his brother would be willing to forgive him.  
  
*****  
  
Canard watched from the doorway as he listened to Wildwing and Duke talking. He slowly started to grin evilly as time went on. Now would be the perfect opportunity to strike. As he walked away from the doorway, a plan started to form in his head. It was time to pay a surprise visit to a certain duck.  
  
*****  
  
Nosedive looked up from his pillow as his comm beeped. He really wasn't in the mood to answer it, but he knew that he had to if there was an emergency of some sort. If it was Wildwing. . . He could just break the connection. He sighed, wiped the tears away from his face, and then pushed the button on his comm.  
  
"Yeah?" he mumbled, not looking into the screen so that whoever it was wouldn't be able to see that he'd been crying.  
  
Tanya's voice came through, "Hey Nosedive, sorry to, um, bother you, but I'm working on something that's, like, important, and I could r-really use some, you know, help."  
  
Nosedive sighed, "I guess I could come help you."  
  
"T-Thanks. Just come down to my lab in, uh, five minutes."  
  
The teen sighed once more as he shut off his comm. He wiped at his eyes one last time before standing up, stretching his arms out. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. If nothing else, it could take his mind off of what Wildwing had said to him.  
  
Or maybe I'll get really lucky and pass out again for awhile, he thought bitterly as he looked at his brother's empty bed on the other side of the room.  
  
He stopped to look at himself in the mirror and see how bad he looked. His face was a little red from crying, but it was barely noticeable, and he figured that Tanya wouldn't bother him about it. He ran his fingers through his hair a couple of times. Satisfied with his appearance, he sighed as he left his room and headed down the hallway.  
  
Nosedive never noticed Mallory emerge from the bathroom since his back was turned to her. She frowned. Where was he off to? Curious, she decided to follow him. Mallory had heard about what had happened between him and Wildwing; all of the ducks had by now. She knew how upset the teen could get after fighting with his brother, and she wanted to make sure that he wasn't planning on doing something stupid.  
  
She stopped when Nosedive turned and went into Tanya's lab. Something still didn't seem right to her, so she crept up beside the door and listened.  
  
*****  
  
"Okay Tanya, what's the troub-" Nosedive cut himself off as he realized who was standing before him.  
  
Canard smiled at him, but there was a glint of evilness in it, "Actually, Tanya's not here. And she won't be back for a while, either." He held up a little devise and placed it against his beak. "Could you maybe, you know, h- help me?" he imitated Tanya's voice almost perfectly.  
  
Nosedive's blood suddenly ran cold, "What do you want, Canard?"  
  
"Why, to inform you of some things. You've been saying quite a bit about me, you know. None of it is very nice. So I'm going to teach you to keep your beak shut," Canard sneered.  
  
Nosedive backed up when he saw the look in his former leader's eyes. "I-I knew it," he stammered. "But if you touch me, Wildwing will never forgive you!"  
  
"And do you really think I care about Wildwing or how he feels? Well, maybe if he was in pain, but. . . Anyway, he's a fool, and so are the rest of your pathetic teammates!"  
  
Without warning, Canard lashed out at him. Nosedive dodged out of the way, but tripped on something and crashed to his knees on the floor. The teen started to stand up, but by then Canard was able to reach out and grab him by the shoulders. Unable to break free from the grip he was thrown across the room, crashing hard into a storage cabinet. The wind was completely knocked out of him, and he struggled to get up, now in a daze.  
  
Canard grinned as he moved closer. If he leg was still injured, he was showing absolutely no signs of it. But just as he was about to move in for the final blow, the tan mallard was struck from behind. He lost his balance and stumbled backwards, grabbing onto Tanya's workbench to keep from falling over. Canard quickly turned around to see Mallory helping Nosedive stand up.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" she glared at him. "The kid didn't do anything!"  
  
"You stay out of this, girl," he threatened.  
  
"Oh, no. I don't think so. Nosedive's a part of this team. And if you have something against him, then it's everyone's problem," Mallory frowned.  
  
By now Nosedive had regained his breath and was standing on his own, albeit a little shaky. He couldn't believe it; Mallory was standing up for him? Now that was rather unusual. But he had to admit that he was grateful at the moment. If she hadn't shown up when she did. . .  
  
"Is that a fact?" Canard's voice took on an amused tone. "Then I guess you have gotten yourself a big problem then."  
  
Mallory took on a defensive stance in front of Nosedive, "Canard, I don't know what happened to you, but you're not going to get past me that easily."  
  
Deciding not to waste the effort in answering, Canard pressed another attack, this time at Mallory. He knocked her to the ground, using his sheer brute strength to overpower her. She struggled against him, but couldn't seem to manage to pull away.  
  
"Nosedive! Run!" Mallory called out, hoping that she could distract Canard long enough for the teen to escape.  
  
Nosedive blinked as her words sunk in. He spun around and headed for the door.  
  
Canard, however, had other ideas.  
  
"You just had to stick your beak in, huh?" he grunted. "You had to come and help the brat, didn't you? Well, you're going to pay for that now!"  
  
In one smooth motion he hit her full force, her head slamming down on the hard floor. The impact, combined with the precise spot at which he had hit her, left her stunned. Not wanting to take any chances, Canard pulled a tiny injection needle out of his bag, courtesy of Dragaunus, and struck her with it on her arm just below her shoulder.  
  
"Give Wing my best regards when you wake up," he sneered at her, "Hope he won't miss his brother too much, because it'll be a while before he sees him again. . . and in much worse shape."  
  
Mallory's eyed widened for a moment, but she seemed unable to reply. Soon after she lay unmoving, and Canard was back up again, ready for Nosedive.  
  
The teen hadn't been thinking straight after everything that had happened, so he had headed down the hallway where he had came from, not realizing until it was too late that he was at a dead end. He spun around in an attempt to go in the other direction, but by then Canard was in the hallway, and he'd have to run past the tan mallard if he wanted to escape.  
  
Nosedive decided to risk it, hoping that the speed he had gained through playing hockey for so long would be enough. He took off at full speed, his heart racing with fear of what could happen if he got caught.  
  
It was close. . .  
  
. . .but it wasn't quite enough.  
  
Nosedive violently felt himself being pulled back by a strong hand on his shoulder. He tried to push it back, but it was to no avail. Canard pulled Nosedive in close to his body, making the teen's struggles basically useless. He cried out, but Canard cut him off.  
  
Soon enough, however, Nosedive felt a prick of something sharp in the back of his neck. His vision blurred, and he heard Canard's evil laughter echoing throughout his head. He continued to struggle, but his strength failed quickly, and his head started to spin dizzily. Before he could stop it everything around him became completely black.  
  
*****  
  
"Dive, come on! Open the door," Wildwing exclaimed from the hallway to their room. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. Can we talk about this?"  
  
Getting no response from the teen, Wing sighed in defeat. Normally he could have just punched in a code at the door; after all, it was his room too. But if Nosedive was really that upset with him, he didn't want to force himself on his brother. He was about to walk away when he decided to try to talk with Nosedive again anyway. To his surprise, the door wasn't locked and whooshed open.  
  
He stepped into the room, "Dive?"  
  
But his brother was no longer there. Nosedive's things were scattered about everywhere, which was usual, but something felt very wrong to Wildwing. There was something unnatural about the clutter, something that made a chill crawl up his spine.  
  
With a worried determination, Wing left in search of finding the others. Something was terribly wrong, he was sure of that now. Not knowing which way to head first, he decided to go and check out Tanya's lab.  
  
Wildwing burst through the door, "Tanya, I think that. . ." he trailed off suddenly at the sight before him.  
  
Instead of finding the blonde duck as he had expected, he had discovered a familiar redhead, who was unconscious on the floor.  
  
He rushed over to her. Suddenly she groaned and opened her eyes.  
  
"Mallory, are you okay? What happened?" he questioned worriedly.  
  
"Canard," she gasped. "He took Nosedive. . . I tried to stop him, but he's gone. . ."  
  
"Dive. . ." Wing whispered. His face had gone pale. How had things so suddenly gone so horribly wrong?  
  
To Be Continued  
  
A/N: Wow. . . this was harder than I thought it would be. I don't know how long it'll be until chapter 3, but I promise I'll be working on it whenever I can. Until then, later! ^-^ 


	3. Despair

A/N: Yep, I'm back again! Did you miss me? Probably not, but I know quite a few people who couldn't wait for this next chapter. It's slightly shorter than my last two, but I hope this was worth the wait. Anyway, enjoy. ^^  
  
Choices  
  
By Orenda  
  
Chapter 3 - Despair  
  
Dragaunus beamed as he finished listening to Canard's report on what had happened. It was amazing; time and time again his henchmen continued to fowl up his plans. He had taken one of the ducks and brought him to their side, and now things had been working right from the start, which was proven by the unconscious duck that was locked up in the containment unit down the hall.  
  
He should have thought of doing this a long time ago.  
  
Now that things had gotten rolling, he could start breaking the ducks apart one by one, starting with the youngest down the hallway. And what would be the best way to do that? The answer was rather obvious, at least to him. What was the one thing that meant more to the young duck than anything else? All that Dragaunus needed was a way to take that one thing away from him. And if things worked so well with Canard, then. . .  
  
"Lord Dragaunus?" his thoughts were interrupted by Siege.  
  
The Saurian overlord blinked, reorganizing all of his thoughts and ideas into his main plan before answering.  
  
"I want you to go stay with the duck. Make sure that you inform me the moment he's awake," he began.  
  
Siege nodded before leaving, not bothering to stay and listen to the rest of the Saurian's plans.  
  
Dragaunus watched him leave; he would fill Siege in on the plan later. He continued, "Canard, you already know what your next assignment is; I'm sure that there will be no real problems with it. As for the two of you," he gestured to Wraith and Chameleon with his claw, "I have a very special assignment for you. . . something that I shall enjoy watching greatly. . ."  
  
The evil laughter that echoed down the corridors of the Raptor could have made chills go down the spine of even the bravest.  
  
*****  
  
Wildwing simply stood in the infirmary in a daze. . . Nosedive was gone?  
  
He had brought Mallory here after he had found her lying on the floor, only to find Duke already in the room helping Tanya; apparently the redhead hadn't been Canard's only victim. Both of them were okay, just a bit stunned from the effects of whatever had been in those needles Canard had stabbed them with.  
  
And there was one thing that he was still confused about. Why? Why would his best friend even think about turning against them? After all Canard had gone through to find the mask and bring a strike team together against Dragaunus in the first place. . . Why would he just suddenly throw it all away? None of it made sense, but apparently Nosedive had noticed that something was wrong. . .  
  
Nosedive. . . The mere thought of his younger brother's name flooded him with emotions: fear, worry. . . but guilt most of all. The last thing Wildwing had said to him had been terrible. . . What if he never got the chance to tell his brother how sorry he was, that he never meant any of it? If only he had been thinking straight, then he would've listened to Nosedive's cautions and doubts. If only he had been there to stop Canard from taking away the person he loved more than life itself. If only. . .  
  
Wildwing felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around. Mallory was standing there, a look of concern showing her normally well-controlled emotions on her face.  
  
"Mal, you should be laying down," he frowned at her.  
  
The redhead sighed as she lightly squeezed his shoulder, "I told you that I'm fine. I know you too well. . . It's not your fault, okay?"  
  
"Yes, but. . ." he started.  
  
Mallory cut him off, "But nothing, Wildwing. You're going to have to push your feelings of guilt aside, or we'll never get Nosedive back. He needs you to be a leader right now. . . We all do." She lowered her head slightly, "Yes, he was right about Canard, even though something still isn't right about that, and we should have listened, but now the only thing that matters is getting him back, right?"  
  
Wildwing stared at her for a minute before answering. "Yeah. . . You're right. I. . ." he shook his head, clearing his thoughts, "We'll get Dive back. . . We have too."  
  
"I know," she replied quietly, "and we will. As long as you lead us as a captain and not as a worried older brother."  
  
Wildwing was about to say something else, but Duke and Tanya had walked over to join them, so the words were lost.  
  
"So what's the plan, Wildwing?" Duke asked.  
  
Wildwing took a deep breath to collect himself before replying, "Well, the first step is to locate the Raptor, and then we'll come up with a plan to get Nosedive out of there, since that's the most probable place for Canard to have taken him."  
  
"Right," Mallory agreed.  
  
Just as he was about to continue, Drake One's warning alarm started to blare throughout the Pond. Without another word, Wildwing took off running towards the supercomputer, the others, including Grin who joined them shortly after the alarm, close behind him. His mind was suddenly racing; was this a sign of his brother? He hoped so.  
  
He was the first one there, so he quickly punched in a bunch of commands into the computer system, desperate to know what the problem was. After playing around with it for a minute, he was about to step back and let Tanya handle it when the huge screen suddenly went blank.  
  
What. . ? I wouldn't have crashed anything, he thought.  
  
Just as he was about to ask what could have happened, the large monitor almost instantly came back to life. But now, a familiar face filled their view, suddenly filling the members of the team with various emotions, but mostly anger and confusion.  
  
It was Canard.  
  
It was Mallory who managed to speak first, albeit rather hotheadedly from her previous engagement with the tan mallard, "Alright, you creep. What did you do with Nosedive?"  
  
Canard gave them a smug look directed mostly at Mallory as he started to speak, "And why should I tell you that? You barely put up a fight against me. It's a wonder that Dragaunus hasn't been able to stop your pathetic attempts at saving Earth until now, since you seem so weak. . "  
  
Grin had to grab onto both of her shoulders tightly to keep the redhead from destroying Drake One's monitor.  
  
Wildwing frowned, trying to keep his own anger under control, "Canard, explain yourself. Why would you. . . take Nosedive?"  
  
The tan mallard on the screen shrugged nonchalantly, "It was Dragaunus's orders. Why should I argue?"  
  
Tanya watched him closely with interest. Something was definitely not right about him. She could tell it in his eyes. If she only could've ran a few tests. . . The look in his eyes sort of reminded her of when. .  
  
"So you've switched sides, huh?" Duke said coldly. "And I used to think you were a great leader."  
  
"I've simply seen the way of things," Canard replied. "It's pointless to try and stop Dragaunus. Now, as for the reason for this little chat. . If you want this little brat back, you're going to have to listen to me. I'll contact you again another time and tell you specifically what to do. Until then. . . Live with it."  
  
The screen suddenly went blank before any of them could do anything about it.  
  
"His mind has been clouded," Grin said after a moment of silence, "and he is not thinking clearly."  
  
Wildwing stared blankly at Drake One's now normal monitor, ". . .That's not Canard. I-It can't be. . I've known him since we were kids."  
  
Tanya looked over at their leader sadly, "Wildwing, I think that, uh, Dragaunus might have hypno. . hyp. . uh, brainwashed him. He sort of looked like Phil had when he, you know. . ."  
  
Wildwing suddenly blinked in realization. It did sort of seem that way. And if it was possible to do it with one person, then maybe. . .  
  
"We'll have to get to him," Wildwing stated as he turned around and faced the others. "There's a high chance that that's what happened, so we'll have to try to snap him out of it to get Nosedive back."  
  
"Well, I did, uh, put a tracker on him while I was fixing his leg," Tanya told them, "A-And as long as he hasn't found it. ."  
  
"Do it, Tanya," Wildwing nodded in approval.  
  
The blonde scientist was soon quickly typing away at the supercomputer. It beeped a few times, and then after a moment or two showed a blip on the map on the outskirts north of Anaheim, in what looked to be a park.  
  
"Then that's where we'll start looking," Wildwing stated. "We'll take the Migrator. Let's move, team!"  
  
We'll get you back, baby bro'. . . I promise.  
  
*****  
  
Nosedive moaned softly as he slowly opened his eyes. Where was he? Hadn't he just. . . Then it hit him; Canard. Canard had turned against them and had taken him somewhere. So now what?  
  
As he tried to sit up he was overcome with a sudden feeling of nausea. He closed his eyes again and waited for the feeling to pass. What kind of stuff did Canard inject into him anyway? When he was sure that he could move without getting sick he once again tried opening his eyes and finally managed to get a good look at his location. He was on the Raptor; he could tell that much. But other than that, he really didn't know what was going on.  
  
Still rather disoriented, Nosedive blinked as he looked over and saw Siege's looming form through the bars of the "cage" he was currently being held in. The Saurian had his back to him, so maybe Siege didn't know he was awake yet. Maybe he could use that to his advantage. He closed his eyes again and forced himself to relax. If they thought he was still unconscious, perhaps they would reveal something in front of him.  
  
He might have dozed off for a while, but he didn't know for sure. He couldn't really remember. A door swooshed open, and he placed all of his efforts into not reacting. Not moving other than his shallow breathing, Nosedive listened to see what he could find out about his current situation.  
  
"What's his condition?" he heard Wraith say.  
  
"The duck hasn't moved since we brought him here," Siege growled.  
  
"I see," Wraith replied, looking over at Nosedive somewhat strangely, even compared to his usual looks. "Lord Dragaunus has been hoping he would be awake by now to offer his condolences."  
  
Condolences, Nosedive thought. What was that supposed to mean?  
  
"Yeah, it's too bad," Siege sneered, "I was really hoping that we would've been the ones to finish him off after all the trouble he's caused us."  
  
Nosedive swallowed to keep himself from reacting; they had killed someone? It couldn't be. . . these lame-o Saurian sleazoids couldn't get away with robbery, much less murder.  
  
"Lord Dragaunus wishes for you to go take care of the body. It's basically useless to us now."  
  
"What about him?" Siege asked, gesturing to Nosedive's motionless form.  
  
"I'll be staying with him. Dragaunus shall be arriving personally any time now."  
  
Siege nodded, taking his leave.  
  
As soon as the larger Saurian was gone, Wraith sighed and shook his head, "You can stop pretending now, duck. We've known you've been awake for quite some time now."  
  
Nosedive decided to remain where he was; maybe they were just testing him. And even if they knew he was awake, maybe he could convince them he had passed out again.  
  
"Very well," Wraith continued, "If you want to pretend you can't hear us then go ahead. . . It's not going to bring him back, you know."  
  
Dragaunus came into the room with a rather pleased look on his face, "Well?"  
  
"He's awake, my lord. He thinks he can deceive us by not moving around."  
  
The Saurian overlord raised an eyebrow as he walked up to the "cage", an evil smile already starting to form across his face, "Oh really?" He tapped the bars lightly with the back of his claws, "Well duck, you just might want to listen to what I have to say. . . I'm sure that you'll have great interest in it. . . considering that it's about your brother. . ."  
  
Nosedive involuntarily tensed up at that comment. They weren't talking about Wildwing. . . were they? No! he decided. They were just messing with him this whole time since they knew he was awake. That had to be it! There was no possible way that his brother could be. . .  
  
Dragaunus noticed the teen's slight movement and his smile widened; this was working perfectly. And as long as his henchmen did what they were supposed to, this duck would soon be nothing more than a broken child, easily disposed of.  
  
He continued, "Yes. . . you're really close to Wildwing, aren't you? The one thing he couldn't live without. . . You should've seen the look on his face. He came after us as soon as he heard that Canard had brought you here." He paused again as he thought of his newest "creation" and all that he had already accomplished. "The others don't even realize what happened to him. . . they think we have him locked up in here with you. But Canard is taking care of that little misinterpretation right now. . ."  
  
A hiss from the doorway interrupted him. Dragaunus turned around and smiled when he saw who had came in. Now the fun would truly begin.  
  
Siege's rough voice seemed to boom in Nosedive's ears, but in reality wasn't very loud at all, "Sorry to bother you my Lord, but I need to know what you want me to do with the body."  
  
Unable to resist, Nosedive slowly opened his eyes halfway. . .  
  
. . .and shut them again almost instantly, all of his remaining energy suddenly going towards fighting the urge to vomit. He hadn't looked for very long, but the image was now very clearly imprinted in his mind, and he wouldn't have to look at it any longer to see it.  
  
Draped over Siege's shoulder was the lifeless form of Wildwing.  
  
He looked much different than the last time Nosedive had saw him. He had been stripped of his armor, and his body suit had been torn in many places. He was also covered in dried blood stains, mostly on the upper parts of his body; he'd obviously been slashed up pretty badly.  
  
But the worst part was his face. Whether the mask had been taken off or if Wildwing had never put it on he couldn't tell. But for that brief instant, Nosedive saw the terror that had been on his brother's face, frozen forever into his features as well as in Nosedive's mind. The face alone was what made Nosedive's heart shatter into a million pieces.  
  
Unable to pretend any longer, his whole body started shaking, his breaths coming in shaky gasps. How had this ever happened? How could the Saurians have gotten their hands on his brother anyway? He hadn't been asleep for that long, had he? And if they had done this, then. what else had they gotten away with by now?  
  
The Saurian overlord's evil smile grew largely as he noticed the change in his prisoner, "Oh. There's no more use for it now. Canard did a very good job of damaging him before he died, didn't he? Why don't you just take it and dump it in the ocean or something?"  
  
"As you wish," Siege replied.  
  
Canard? Canard was the one who had done this? Stars, how could he have ever killed Wildwing? Nosedive knew he had been acting strangely since he came back from limbo, but. . He had never dreamed that he would be able to. . Be able to. . .  
  
The doors swooshed open again and Nosedive heard the large Saurian's footsteps slowly fade away, but Siege's horrible laughter took much longer to disappear.  
  
"And Wraith," Dragaunus added, "I think that our prisoner is going to want to be alone to grieve.. When Siege gets back, tell him to take the duck down a few levels into a holding cell."  
  
"Of course, Lord Dragaunus," Wraith answered.  
  
With one last evil look at his now disheveled prisoner and a nod to the mystical Saurian, Dragaunus took his leave. Now only Wraith remained with Nosedive, whom by now had stopped paying attention to everything going on around him.  
  
Wraith watched him silently for a minute, then he closed his eyes and began to chant something in the ancient Saurian language very softly, not loud enough for the Puckworlder to notice.  
  
And now it would begin. . .  
  
*****  
  
Dragaunus grinned evilly as he rejoined Siege in the Raptor's main chamber, the large Saurian still carrying the limp form of Wildwing.  
  
"You can put him down now, Siege," the Saurian overlord commanded.  
  
Siege immediately complied, dropping the figure onto the floor a little harder than he probably should have. Without warning, the unmoving form shimmered for a brief time, then suddenly shape-shifted into a smaller green figure who was groaning softly.  
  
"Hey! Watch how you're handling me!" the now normal Chameleon glared at his companion as he sat up and brushed the dirt off of himself. "It's hard enough pretending to be dead! You don't have to make it any worse."  
  
Siege ignored the complaint, turning his attention back to Dragaunus, "So I take it that the plan worked?"  
  
Dragaunus sneered, "Of course it worked! That duck has seen the 'evidence' to prove that his brother is dead, and now Wraith's magic should be enhancing that belief even as we speak. His spirit should be completely broken any time now. . ."  
  
With that thought, the Saurian overlord began to laugh again. Why did it take him so long to come up with this idea in the first place?  
  
*****  
  
Nosedive curled himself up into a tight ball as the tears he had been holding in finally began to fall, his sobbing becoming harsher with each passing moment. This couldn't be happening! He didn't want to believe it, but it was true. Wildwing was gone, and he was never coming back. . .  
  
Wildwing. . . after everything they had gone through together, all the hardships they had faced and overcame. . . And in the end he had been taken away by his "best friend". But what hurt him more than anything was that he hadn't even been awake to know it had happened. . . Nosedive had hoped he would be there if something ever happened to his brother.  
  
Then another thought came to his mind. . . maybe this is what Wildwing had wanted. . .  
  
The last conversation he had shared with Wildwing came flooding back to him in a rush. Was this really what he had meant? That he wanted to die so Nosedive wouldn't have to deal with him anymore? Or maybe it was the other way around. . . Wildwing probably didn't want to put up with him anymore. And now he wouldn't have to. . .  
  
Suddenly overwhelmed with emotions, as well as the pain and fear of what he dreaded Wildwing had been thinking, everything around Nosedive just disappeared into darkness. He thought that he was losing consciousness again, but his mind continued to stay awake, so he wasn't quite sure what had happened.  
  
Voices started to fill his head, powerful and manipulative ones. The teen had no way of knowing this, but they were, in fact, basically the same ones that had clouded Canard's mind not too long ago.  
  
"This is all your fault. ." they whispered to him. "If it wasn't for you, your brother would still be alive. . ."  
  
"But it wasn't me," Nosedive argued back in his mind, "Canard was the one that killed him!"  
  
"Canard killed him because of you. . . It all comes back to you in the end. . ."  
  
"No! Canard is the one that brought me here and did this to me! He took my brother away! I didn't do anything!"  
  
"He wouldn't have done it if you hadn't been in the way. . . You forced Canard to let you join the team. ."  
  
"What? No! Wing was the one who wanted to bring me along!" Nosedive was screaming inside of his head by now. "He didn't want to leave me behind!"  
  
"Or so you think. . . " the voices continued to manipulate him. "But none of that matters now. . You are all alone now, right. .?"  
  
"I. . I am all alone. ." Nosedive was getting weaker, and the voices seemed to be feeding off of that weakness.  
  
"That's right. . . You are completely alone now. . So why don't you just forget. .? Forget about everything, and the pain will fade away. . ."  
  
"It. . It will?"  
  
"Yes. . . You want to be with your brother again, don't you. .? So just rest, and stop worrying about everything else. . Soon you will be with him again. . . And maybe he will forgive you for everything you have done. ."  
  
"I. . . I'm sorry, bro'. . ."  
  
"That's it. . Now just rest. . Nothing that happens in the physical world matters anymore. . Don't even think about them. . . Forget everything, and you will be with your brother again shortly. ."  
  
"Just. . forget. ."  
  
"Yes. . . Then everything will be okay again. . ."  
  
And that was the last thing that Nosedive remembered before he plunged into complete nothingness once more.  
  
To be continued. . .  
  
A/N: Once again, I don't know how long it'll be until the next one, but I've already started on chapter 4, so hopefully it won't be too long. Later! ^^ 


	4. Fear

A/N: I did it! I finally did it! Another chapter for my story. ^^ I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but somehow I managed to pull it off. This was the hardest one for me to write so far, but it's also the longest. Thank you so much for being patient with me, because I really have been trying to get this done. The reviews I've been getting are truly amazing. Anyways, enjoy as always. ^^  
  
Choices  
  
By Orenda  
  
Chapter 4 - Fear  
  
Wildwing looked out of the Migrator's window in silence, occasionally scanning the surrounding area with the mask. He hadn't trusted himself with driving, since his mind was racing with a huge flood of emotions, so he had allowed Tanya to drive, satisfied with sitting in the passenger's seat.  
  
They had been driving for what seemed like days to Wildwing, but were really only a few hours. They had checked out the park and had found no trace of the Saurians. Not knowing where to go next, they starting scanning the surrounding area and were slowly making their way outwards. Their masked leader was starting to get frustrated, and he hoped something would turn up soon.  
  
He was still trying to figure out how all of this could've happened. It was clear to him that Canard had been changed against his will. . . Now it was simply a matter of figuring out how. If he ended up talking to Canard, would he be able to get through to him, to snap him out of whatever it was he'd fallen into. . ? He strongly hoped so. And if he was able to get his best friend back, it would be that much easier to get his brother back too. . .  
  
Unknown to him, the others kept giving Wildwing quick, worried glances. Mallory kept fidgeting; the sitting around was starting to get to her. She felt sorry for him, for what his mind was going through, but she also knew that there wasn't much any of them could do until they found something, anything, that would make her feel more useful than she felt at the moment.  
  
If only they could find a clue. . .  
  
Duke was fiddling around with his saber. He tried to make it look like he was adjusting something here or there, but it was actually just something for his hands to do. Still deactivated, he eventually just started switching it from hand to hand. He sighed softly. This wasn't getting them any closer to finding Dragaunus or the kid.  
  
The gray mallard was about to say something to Wildwing when the Migrator suddenly seemed to go spinning out of control. Tanya cried out in alarm, and Wildwing looked over at her.  
  
"Tanya, what is it?" he asked.  
  
"T-The Migrator just stopped responding!" she replied, trying to regain control of the vehicle.  
  
"Is there anything you can do to fix it. .?"  
  
"I'm working on it. . ." Tanya said as she continued to try and figure out the problem.  
  
"Can ya work on it any faster?!" Duke called out as his eyes became fixed on the view out the front windshield, "'Cause otherwise I'm not sure we'll be movin' for very long. ."  
  
The others focused their attention on the sight in front of them as well.  
  
A couple of gasps were made and eyes widened as they saw that the Migrator was steadily approaching the side of a brick building. And unless they could turn or slow down soon, collision would quickly become inevitable. And as Wildwing was finding out, they still had next to no control on stopping or turning, so that meant. . .  
  
"Hang on!" Wildwing called out as he and the others braced for impact. . .  
  
. . .And then something strange happened. Just as fast as the Migrator had gone out of control, it quickly somehow became unlocked again. Tanya slammed down on the brakes, trying to swerve out of the way, but by then it was too late. Instead of a head-on collision with the wall, however, the wheels had turned the vehicle enough to make it spin sideways. It still slammed hard into the wall, but without nearly as much force or as much damage as it would have.  
  
There was silence for a period of time. Then Wildwing slowly opened his eyes and looked around.  
  
"Is everyone okay?" he asked.  
  
A few groans and complaints came as his answer, so he knew it wasn't fatal, at least.  
  
"What happened. . ?" Mallory asked. "The Migrator's never acted like that before. ."  
  
Wildwing's comm beeped out of nowhere before anyone could say anything else. His eyes widened a little. Maybe Nosedive had escaped and was trying to call them! Or maybe. . .  
  
He activated the comm, strongly hoping to see his brother's face. But instead, a completely different person came onto the screen.  
  
"Did you like the little surprise I set up for you?" Canard asked, amusement in his voice. "Tanya's machine is definitely a nice piece of work, but it didn't take me too long to add a certain extra component to it. ."  
  
"What do you want from us?" Wildwing asked somewhat coldly.  
  
"Actually. . . Just you. Alone."  
  
Wildwing blinked, "Me?"  
  
"Exactly. I'm going to send you some coordinates in a minute, and I expect you to be there exactly one hour from now. And if the others come, I can promise that you won't find out anything about your precious little brother until it's too late, " Canard smiled evilly again.  
  
Wildwing remained silent for a moment. It was probably a trap that Dragaunus had set up, but he didn't want to take the chance of something happening to Nosedive.  
  
He finally nodded, "I'll be there."  
  
"I knew you would be. . . Remember, in one hour, alone."  
  
Canard's face disappeared from the comm, and seconds later the promised coordinates were sent.  
  
The team captain sighed as he looked back at the others, who had now all basically recovered from the collision with the building. He gave a curious glance to Tanya, who seemed to have started working on something.  
  
"Tanya?" he asked quietly.  
  
She didn't answer him right away, remaining focused on what she was doing.  
  
The others watched her curiously for a minute, hoping she had an idea to solve something.  
  
"I-I've discovered the Raptor's location!" she announced finally.  
  
"You did?" Mallory asked.  
  
Tanya nodded, "Canard would need the Raptor's main system to send those coordinates, so by using his signal, I could, uh, figure out where that source was coming from. I-It must be the Raptor!"  
  
"Way to go, Tanya," Wildwing nodded back, looking at the information she had found. "It's in the opposite direction of where he wants me to go. ." He paused, thinking for a moment. ". . Duke, I want you and Mallory to go check it out. If it's the Raptor, and you feel comfortable enough getting in, try to see if you can find Nosedive. Otherwise, contact us for backup and stay out of sight."  
  
Duke and Mallory both nodded in understanding, and Wildwing turned back to Tanya, "Tanya, how bad do you think the damage is to the Migrator?"  
  
"Not too bad," she answered, "It shouldn't take too long to, uh, fix it."  
  
"Good. Then you and Grin should stay here and see how much you can get repaired. This place looks deserted to me, so I doubt there will be any humans to question you. . ." He paused again, a look of determination on his face. "I'm going to see what I can do about Canard."  
  
*****  
  
Creeping through the lower depths of the Raptor was something that even a former thief such as Duke L'Orange wouldn't want to be caught doing without good reason. But he supposed that going in search of a teammate who had been locked up and suffering through who knows what was more than a good enough reason for him.  
  
It hadn't been too hard to find it. The Raptor had been basically in the exact spot that Tanya had said it would be. . . It was so nice when Tanya was right. And there hadn't been any sign of drones outside, so Duke had used his masterful skills to get him and Mallory inside.  
  
"I don't know about you," Mallory commented next to him, "but I wouldn't mind just finding Nosedive and getting out of here."  
  
"I'm with ya there, sweetheart," Duke replied. "This place is definitely not one that I'd like ta spend time in."  
  
Mallory nodded in return, her eyes scanning the area for anything unusual.  
  
The corridors weren't very well lit, showing that the Saurians probably didn't come down there very often. The smell wasn't exactly the greatest either, and Duke, slightly queasy, decided that he didn't blame them for not wanting to hang around.  
  
They had been searching this level for quite some time, and Duke was just about to suggest that they head down to the next one when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't tell what it was because of the poor lighting, but he was fairly sure it looked like the form of someone.  
  
"Nosedive?" he called out, stopping in his tracks.  
  
Mallory stopped as well, "Do you see him?"  
  
"I think so," he replied. "I'm not sure. He's not moving if it is."  
  
Duke made his way to the figure on the floor, realizing that there were bars in-between the form and himself. Upon closer inspection he discovered where it was locked at, which he easily opened in a matter of seconds.  
  
"Dive? Is that you?" he asked as he stepped through the door into the small cell, Mallory right behind him.  
  
Getting no response, he carefully crouched down next to the still figure. He kept his one hand close to his saber, afraid that this whole setup might be a trap. He then reached out with his other hand and touched the seemingly lifeless form. When the figure slowly lifted his head up to look back at him, Duke found himself holding back a curse of surprise.  
  
It was Nosedive alright, but his condition was the shocking part. His eyes contained a very haunted look, as if his very soul had been pulled from him. He had some bruises here and there, probably from his encounter with Canard from before, but otherwise didn't seem to be physically harmed. But those empty eyes would have bothered even the most dispassionate of people.  
  
"Shit, kid, what have they done to ya?" Duke managed to say after a minute.  
  
Nosedive didn't reply. He just continued to look at Duke blankly, as if he didn't even recognize the gray mallard.  
  
"We better get him out of here," Mallory stated quietly. "It doesn't look like he could handle much confrontation or fighting right now."  
  
Duke acknowledged her with a nod, not taking his eyes off of Nosedive.  
  
"Come on, kid," he said gently, placing a hand on Nosedive's shoulder. "Let's take you back ta the Pond, okay?" He wasn't even sure the teenager would understand his words, but he knew that he had to at least try.  
  
Nosedive blinked, as if waking up from a dream or something.  
  
"N-No," he stammered, his voice breaking a little from not using it in a while.  
  
Duke's eyes widened a little in surprise, "What?"  
  
"N-No," Nosedive repeated, "L-Leave me h-here."  
  
"I don't think so, kid," Duke told him sternly. "Why would you ever want to be left here?"  
  
"P-Please," Nosedive whispered, "I wanna be with Wing again."  
  
"Nosedive, staying here won't get ya back ta Wildwing."  
  
"Yes it w-will. Not too much l-longer now. Then you won't have to w-worry about me anymore." Nosedive started to relax, slowly closing his eyes.  
  
Duke grabbed both of the teen's shoulders, shaking him lightly, "No! Kid, stay with me! Don't think like that!"  
  
Nosedive didn't respond, but he did open his eyes again. Then he started to tremble. He was obviously terribly upset, and it hurt the other two to see him this way.  
  
Mallory kneeled down next to both of them, trying not to look worried. This was not the Nosedive she knew, and the sooner they got him out of there, the better.  
  
"We could just lift him up and carry him," she suggested. "He doesn't seem to be in much of a condition to walk on his own."  
  
Duke nodded in agreement, moving closer to Nosedive, "Okay. I'll take this side and you take that side."  
  
As the two ducks started to move in to pick him up, Nosedive started to struggle. He was weak from being imprisoned and from the drugs that had been given to him, however, and it wasn't very hard for Duke and Mallory to restrain him. They started off back down the corridor, and Nosedive kicked and squirmed a little, but neither duck was willing to let go of him.  
  
"P-Please," Nosedive whined softly, "I wanna go back and be with Wing. Just l-leave me here."  
  
Duke's heart broke to hear such things coming from the usually carefree teenager, but he said nothing, figuring that his words would be of no help, and continued onwards.  
  
Nosedive finally gave up after a short time, going limp in their arms as he started to sob softly, even though his eyes no longer contained tears. Mallory and Duke briefly shared a sad look.  
  
Kid, I don't know what they did to ya, Duke thought, but whatever it was, those pathetic Saurians are gonna be sorry for this!  
  
*****  
  
Tanya was starting to get worried. Duke and Mallory had been gone for a long time now, and Wildwing for even longer. She hoped that everything was okay. . . She glanced over at Grin, who now was in what looked to be a deep meditation, but she couldn't tell for sure. One could never really tell with Grin.  
  
They had found that the engine had basically remained in tact even after the impact, so it hadn't taken much work at all for the two of them to repair it. There was some damage done to the exterior where it had hit, but it had no impact on the running of the vehicle, and decided that it was best left for after they returned to the Pond.  
  
She was just about to say something to Grin when she noticed a couple of figures half-carrying a third figure and approaching from the distance. It must be them! Standing up, she went outside and started to head towards them, wondering if they needed any help.  
  
As they started to get closer, Tanya became certain that it was Duke and Mallory, and they had Nosedive in-between them. She was surprised when she noticed his appearance, how devastated he looked and how his head hung limply as he was pushed onward, as if. . .  
  
Duke waved at her, letting her know that they had spotted her, so Tanya waved back in acknowledgement. They started heading more in a straight direction towards her as they gently encouraged Nosedive, telling him they were almost there. Tanya noticed right away that he wasn't responding in a way that he should have been. . . What had happened to him?  
  
The scientist had to keep herself from reacting to Nosedive when they reached her. He looked so different in such a short amount of time, his head hung down as he allowed himself to be moved, no emotion showing on any of his features.  
  
"We need to bring him into the Migrator," she said softly, not knowing if the teen had heard her or not.  
  
Duke nodded, bringing his attention back on Nosedive, "Okay, kid, we're gonna take ya inside, and then you can just relax, alright?"  
  
It was then when Nosedive seemed to suddenly realize what was going on. He lifted his head up, fear suddenly evident in his eyes.  
  
"N-No," he whispered, his whole body starting to tremble, "T-Take me back. . ."  
  
Duke tightened his grip on the teen a little, "Come on, kid, it'll be okay. . . We're just gonna have to wait 'til Wildwing comes back, that's all."  
  
Nosedive started to struggle again, panic becoming more evident in his voice, "N-No! D-Don't. . !"  
  
Mallory blinked in surprise, not quite expecting him to struggle like this. . What was going on in his mind to make him act this way?  
  
The teen was suddenly doing everything in his power to pull away from them, struggling and crying out with whatever energy he had left. The others weren't quite sure how to handle him. He was obviously not thinking straight, but without Wildwing being there, could they even get through to him?  
  
They were having trouble restraining him now, but they didn't want to hurt him, either.  
  
"Tanya, can't ya do anythin' to help him?" Duke asked.  
  
"Not much. I don't want to sedate him or anything s-since we don't know what Dragaunus did to him yet," Tanya explained.  
  
That was when Grin stepped in, taking over for Duke and Mallory. Nosedive struggled against him, too, but with Grin's firm, but gentle, grip, there wasn't any way he'd be going anywhere.  
  
"Little friend, let us help you," Grin begged him.  
  
"Nosedive. . " Duke said gently, "It's gonna be okay, I promise!"  
  
"N-No, it's not! I-It's not okay! It'll n-never be okay again. . !" Somehow Nosedive had found more tears inside of him and was crying again.  
  
"Why not?" Mallory asked him, "Wildwing's going to be here soon. . "  
  
"N-No he's not! Q-Quit lying! Y-You all know he's not. . !"  
  
Duke blinked, "What makes you say that, kid?"  
  
"H-He's gone. . ! A-And you all know it by now! S-So stop pretending he'll be back. ." Hurt was even more evident on the teen's face now.  
  
"Oh, Nosedive. . " Tanya whispered.  
  
"Canard. . H-He. . He. ." With that, Nosedive collapsed into sobs, unable to handle it anymore. Grin continued to hold him, and the others watched him sadly.  
  
"B-Bring him in the Migrator, Grin," Tanya said softly. "I want to see if I can figure out what happened to him."  
  
*****  
  
Things were still reeling through Wildwing's mind as the mallard headed down the street on his blades. He was going to have to face someone that had taken over his best friend, and it wasn't going to be easy. But he knew it was what he must do, whether he was ready for it or not.  
  
He was mostly paying attention to his surroundings, though, wanting to be able to find his way back to the Migrator again. He was definitely moving out farther from the city. It was more open here, and it appeared to be completely deserted. Wildwing wasn't sure whether this was a good sign or not, but he strongly hoped that either way, this whole mess could be fixed soon.  
  
Wildwing didn't want to admit it, but on the inside he was scared, almost terrified even. Scared of the possibility of losing his brother for good, scared of never having his real best friend back after thinking that they would be together again. But he was mostly afraid of failing, of letting both of them down, knowing it would be his fault that it even happened. Deep down he knew that Dragaunus was really the one responsible for all of this, but his conscience still managed to get the better of him somewhat.  
  
He was getting closer to reaching the specified coordinates now. It was definitely deserted, with hardly any buildings in sight. It was mostly grassy, with a few trees here and there, and one two-lane highway that obviously wasn't traveled very much. Canard must be trying to get him out into the open, so that he wouldn't be able to rely on much to help him.  
  
He just hoped he'd be able to help Canard without having to do anything drastic.  
  
Wildwing stopped in approximately the right spot, an area with several trees clustered close by. Not seeing anything, he figured that Canard wasn't there yet. Maybe he could use that to his advantage. . .  
  
"Glad you could make it," said a voice from behind him.  
  
Wildwing spun around, instantly on his guard, "Canard!" So much for that thought.  
  
The tan mallard emerged from the shadows of the trees, chuckling, "It really is amazing how someone like you managed to survive against Dragaunus for so long. . . You've sort of become a pain in his side, somehow continuing to keep him from winning. But no more. . ."  
  
Wildwing had tensed up considerably. He gave Canard a hard look, but on the inside his mind was spinning with possibilities of coming up with a way of helping his friend.  
  
"Why can't you tell me where my brother is?!" he asked. "Canard, something's wrong! Let me help you. ."  
  
"Wrong? With me? I think you're mistaken. . . I'm better than ever now." The tan mallard smiled at him. "As I said before, I've seen a new way of things. The better side of things. I must have been so stupid before. ."  
  
"Of course not! Dragaunus has messed with your thinking, and if you let me help you. . "  
  
"There isn't anything I need help with," Canard said, annoyed.  
  
Wildwing sighed. This might take a while.  
  
*****  
  
Back at the Migrator, Tanya sighed as she draped the blanket she had pulled out over Nosedive, whom she had just gotten to fall asleep. He seemed to be a little cold, but that was a very easy fix.  
  
Fixing his mind, however. . .  
  
"So what's the diagnosis, doc?" Duke asked. He had been watching Tanya calm down Nosedive after the whole incident, and he was starting to worry about the teen even more now.  
  
"Not too good," she said quietly, moving away from Nosedive so she wouldn't disturb him. "I'll have to study the blood sample I got from him, but it looks like Dragaunus has been using something to, like, manipulate h-his mind, and make him think Wildwing is dead."  
  
"How could he have done that?" Mallory wondered, who had been pacing back and forth anxiously for some time now.  
  
"Well, it's probably the same thing they used to brainwash Canard, too. It probably involved, uh, either a form of drugs or some of Wraith's magic, or more than likely both."  
  
Duke gave another look towards Nosedive, "So how do we get our Nosedive back?"  
  
Tanya sighed, "He needs Wildwing, and soon. As long as he, you know, thinks Wildwing is gone, he isn't going to have much of a will to live. A-And I don't think anything we say is going to convince him otherwise."  
  
"So what do we do in the meantime? Just watch as he tries to tear himself apart inside?" Duke's anger and frustration was unmistakable in his words.  
  
"T-There's not much we can do, Duke. Just hope that Nosedive will hang in there, and that Wildwing will, you know, get back here soon."  
  
*****  
  
"Come on, Canard, think! Think about what you're doing! This isn't you. . . You're not the best friend that I grew up with anymore, that led us to Dragaunus's base on Puckworld to stop the Saurians from taking over. . ." Wildwing looked over at him with concern, hoping to find any trace of the real Canard in his features.  
  
He thought he might have seen a brief glimpse of the old Canard at that, but it didn't last for more than a split-second.  
  
Maybe. . If he said the right thing at the right time. . .  
  
Suddenly Wildwing's comm beeped, so he had to look away from Canard to answer it.  
  
"What's happening?" he asked, seeing that Duke was the one contacting him.  
  
"We've got the kid," Duke announced, "But he's not doing too hot right now. . Kinda freaked out on us. We think Wraith did somethin' to him."  
  
Wildwing paled a little when he heard that. "Nosedive. ." he whispered. "Where is he now?"  
  
"We're pretty sure he's asleep for the moment, but Tanya doesn't want to sedate him or anythin', and if he wakes up before you get back here. . ." Duke shook his head. "Wildwing, he thinks you're dead."  
  
"H-He does?!" The mallard's eyes widened. "But why would he. .?"  
  
"They screwed up his mind, too," Duke sighed. "We've been doin' all we can, but without you here. ."  
  
At that moment Wildwing felt a pang of guilt. If Nosedive needed him, then he had to go to him. But he was so close to getting through to Canard, he could feel it. A few more minutes wouldn't make that much of a difference, would it. . ?  
  
Wildwing nodded after a moment, "I-I'll be there as soon as I can."  
  
After shutting off his comm, he looked back at Canard, who was now leaning against a tree in boredom.  
  
"I'm sure that your planned speech is just wonderful and everything, but I'll tell you that it's worthless, since nothing you can say will convince me that I'm wrong. . " he smirked. "So what's it going to be? Are you going to make me listen to your pointless beliefs any longer?"  
  
Wildwing sighed. He had a really big choice to make now, and either way would be difficult for him.  
  
Nosedive needed him, especially if the Saurians had done something to him similar to Canard. His brother was probably scared and confused, and he had promised not to let Nosedive down ever again after what had happened in the camps on Puckworld.  
  
But then again, he felt as though he'd already let Canard down, too. He couldn't stop his friend from going into limbo, and he hadn't stopped Dragaunus from getting to his mind, either. If he gave up on Canard now, what kind of a friend would he be?  
  
But his family and duties of being a brother should come first, right?  
  
And then again, Nosedive had all of the others with him. If he left, Canard would be completely on his own again, influence or no influence from Dragaunus.  
  
He didn't know what to do. Should he leave his little brother without him for a little longer, or face the possibility of turning his back and not being able to help his closest friend. . ?  
  
To be concluded. . .  
  
A/N: Yep, just one more chapter to go! I can't believe that I'll actually get to finish this thing! And I promised myself that I'd like to have it done by Christmas, so let's hope. . And a shout out to all my friends who stick with me and "strongly encouraged" me to get this out, lol. I'll do a more specific one at the end. Well, please leave me a review if you wish. Later! ^^ 


	5. Hope

A/N: Woo! *Huge sigh of relief* You guys have no idea how badly I wanted to finish this. But I did it! Thank you so much for your patience and not giving up on me. I'll just leave it at that and let you read my conclusion, lol.  
  
I had to reload this entire story because I wasn't allowed to upload anything for a long time, so I lost all of my wonderful reviews. But I haven't forgotten them, and they still mean so much to me! ^^  
  
Choices  
  
By Orenda  
  
Chapter 5 - Hope  
  
"Canard, I-I. . ." Wildwing began, still unsure of what he should do.  
  
"You should really save your breath for a good cause, my friend," Canard spat. It was obvious that he was getting annoyed. Or perhaps he was becoming troubled, maybe even a bit confused. . . Wildwing knew he just had to keep going, just for a bit longer.  
  
*****  
  
Canard watched Wildwing carefully, smirking as he noticed that the white mallard's muscles were tensed up.  
  
Heh.. So he was nervous, huh? Canard decided that he could use this to his advantage. All he had to do was make Wildwing lose his concentration. He just had to mention the one thing that would distract him, giving Canard control over the situation.  
  
"Your baby brother is helpless without you, isn't he?" he sneered.  
  
Wildwing blinked at that, but otherwise managed to show no outward reaction.  
  
"He's so weak," Canard continued, "Can't even tell an illusion from reality."  
  
Wildwing didn't speak right away, the Mask hiding his feelings rather well, ". . .What do you have against him? He never did anything to you."  
  
This time it was Canard who didn't answer. The question puzzled him somewhat. What did he have against Nosedive? Nothing that he knew of. It wasn't anything personal. . . He was just following orders, right? Of course. He wasn't personally attached to any of them. That's how it had been, and that's how it would always be.  
  
"Trying to make me feel guilty?" he asked finally, "Because it won't work."  
  
"It must be, because now you're questioning yourself. I can tell," Wildwing smirked, reassured by the tan mallard's reaction. He was getting through now, but he had to make this fast! Nosedive was still counting on him, after Dragaunus had. . .  
  
And as long as it was working, he figured it would be best to press further.  
  
"It matters to you, doesn't it? Don't you remember how it used to be back home?"  
  
Canard seemed to be lost in thought, confusion spreading across his face. Then, it was momentarily replaced by a flash of anger.  
  
"It doesn't matter at all if I remember!" he glared at Wildwing, "I'm just following the plan, and nothing more. And you will not convince me otherwise!"  
  
"It must, because otherwise you wouldn't be arguing. Nosedive has always bothered you, hasn't he? I'm not sure why. . . Are you afraid of him, afraid of what he'll become someday?"  
  
"Just because you've spoiled him all the time and let him go everywhere with you even when he probably shouldn't have doesn't mean that-"  
  
Canard suddenly stopped and in pain, falling down to his knees as he brought his hands to his head. Apparently his memories, his true ones, were coming back all at once, triggered by the conversation.  
  
Blinking in slight surprise, Wildwing cautiously to a step closer to the tan mallard, "Canard?"  
  
"Wildwing. . ?" he asked weakly after a minute. "W-What's going on? Where are we. . ?"  
  
When Canard looked up at him this time, Wildwing couldn't help but brighten as he saw a familiar look in his old friend's eyes.  
  
After a moment, he replied, "We're in another universe, and we're trying to stop Dragaunus."  
  
"He's still alive?" Canard rubbed his head, "I-I thought that we. . ."  
  
Canard stopped abruptly, wincing again in pain. This time, Wildwing kneeled down next to him, knowing that he was no longer in danger of being hurt by his friend.  
  
The tan mallard started to collapse, but Wildwing grabbed him, supporting him so that he wouldn't fall. "Canard, stay with me, now."  
  
At first, he didn't receive a response. But Canard slowly started to snap out of it again, and a look of shock appeared on his face as he started to remember some of the recent events.  
  
"Canard?"  
  
"S-Stars, I. . . Nosedive. . . A-And. ."  
  
Wildwing blinked, realizing that his friend was discovering what he had done. He quickly recovered, and tried to reassure Canard, "It's not your fault. Dragaunus made you do it, and you had no control over it."  
  
"The voices," Canard whispered, sitting up on his own, "They wouldn't stop! I could've. . No!"  
  
"Canard, it wasn't you. I-" Wildwing cut himself off as his communicator beeped once more. Now what was going on? He didn't want the interruption, but he couldn't afford to ignore it, either.  
  
He hesitated before activating it, "Yeah?"  
  
Duke's worried look appeared in front of him once more, and soon he could hear screaming in the background. He paled; Wildwing instantly recognized the sound to be from Nosedive.  
  
"He's startin' ta have nightmares," Duke replied, not needing to say who he was talking about. "Tanya and Mal are tryin' ta calm him down, but it's not workin' too well right now."  
  
Canard winced visibly as he heard Nosedive in the background. This was all his fault, whether he was conscious of it at the time or not.  
  
Wildwing nodded quickly, "Alright, we're coming. We'll be there shortly."  
  
"We?" Duke noted.  
  
"I'm bringing Canard back with me." There was no doubt in the white mallard's voice.  
  
Duke nodded, "Alright, just hurry." He cut off communication, Nosedive screams being abruptly cut off.  
  
After remaining where he was for a moment, Canard shakily stood up, pushing away from Wildwing.  
  
"Canard?" Wildwing's eyes softened, seeing the pain on his face.  
  
"I'm not coming with you," Canard stated, slowly starting to back away. The guilt was just too strong, and going back to the others this soon felt wrong for him. He couldn't face them, not until he sorted out all that he had done and came to terms with it.  
  
Wildwing blinked in surprise, standing up as well, "The others will understand. . . They won't hold it against you, I'm sure." Well, Mallory might for a while. And maybe Nosedive, too, but he wasn't about to say that.  
  
"I-I can't," he insisted, moving away faster. "I have to think through a few things on my own. Maybe someday. . ."  
  
The white mallard took a step in the same direction, "But you don't know anything about this world! It would be dangerous!" Wildwing had just gotten his friend back, for real this time, and he wasn't about to lose him again.  
  
"I'll manage." Apparently, Wildwing wasn't going to get what he wanted, as Canard continued to back out of his reach. "Until next time, Wing."  
  
With that, Canard took off running towards a wooded area, not bothering to look back.  
  
"Canard. . ." Wildwing almost fell to his knees again in defeat. After all of this. .  
  
He started to go after him, but stopped himself. The tan mallard obviously didn't want to be followed, so there was no point in trying. And besides, there was someone else who was waiting for him to come.  
  
After letting out a sigh, Wildwing activated his blades and started in the other direction, back towards Anaheim.  
  
*****  
  
The only sounds that Wildwing could hear as he raced back to where the Migrator had been stopped were his blades sliding across the pavement and his breathing, which was becoming heavier as he continued to push all of his strength into getting there faster. He had to return, and fast from the sound of it. If anything ended up happening to Nosedive. . .  
  
I'm coming baby bro', he thought, I'm coming. . .  
  
After speeding down the unusually empty sidewalks for what seemed like forever, having no clue how long it was actually taking, Wildwing caught a glimpse of the broken down vehicle. Knowing that he was so close to his goal, he pushed himself to his limits to reach it.  
  
*****  
  
Wildwing paused only for a quick moment to catch his breath as he rushed into the Migrator.  
  
"N-Nosedive?" he cried out, quickly scanning around with his eyes until they locked on his brother.  
  
"He's right here," Mallory said softly, "He wore himself out again from screaming. . ."  
  
The others said nothing; there was nothing else that needed to be said. Duke was curious about why the team captain had returned alone after saying he was bringing Canard back, but knew that now wasn't a good time to be asking about it.  
  
Wildwing nodded absently to Mallory as he moved and sat down next to Nosedive's still form, carefully pulling the teen into his arms.  
  
"Nosedive?" he whispered, nuzzling his brother's cheek with his beak, "Come on, Dive, talk to me for a minute."  
  
All that Nosedive felt at that point was an emptiness. There was no longer sadness or grief, just. . . nothing. He knew he was all alone now, but for now it didn't really bother him. It wasn't good, but it wasn't really bad, either. And at the moment, he wouldn't mind staying like this forever. . .  
  
Then suddenly he started to feel his physical self again, as if he was being shaken out of a dream. A voice echoed in the back of his mind, gradually becoming louder.  
  
"Nosedive. . ? Come on, I'm right here, baby bro'. . ."  
  
"W-Wing?" he managed to mumble, stirring a little bit.  
  
He was confused now. What was going on?  
  
Wildwing started running his hand through Nosedive's hair, "That's right, Dive, it's me. . "  
  
Nosedive was still quite a bit out of it, "Oh. . . So I'm dead, then. . ?"  
  
The white mallard quickly shook his head, "No, of course not. . You're fine. We're both fine."  
  
Even hearing his brother's voice, the teen started to panic a little; something wasn't right about this.  
  
"N-No. . I-It can't be. . ."  
  
"Nosedive. . ."  
  
"No!" he cried out, starting to struggle against whoever this person was holding him, "W-Wing is gone! Y-You can't be him!"  
  
Wildwing held the teen closer to him, holding him tightly despite his struggling. He knew that he couldn't let go until Nosedive showed at least some recognition of him.  
  
But Nosedive continued to fight for as long as he could, showing no sign of letting up, and Wildwing was starting to wonder how he would ever prove to his little brother that none of what he thought had happened was real.  
  
"Baby bro', please listen to me," he begged as Nosedive's struggles finally started to cease, but Wildwing could tell that it was from exhaustion rather than giving up or reasoning.  
  
The others looked on in worry, but did not interfere, knowing that there wasn't much that they could do. Tanya gently pushed Duke and Mallory away from the two brothers, quietly telling them to help her get ready to go back to the Pond. Not that there was really anything for them to do, but it certainly wasn't helping the situation for them to be standing around watching, either.  
  
"Wing's gone," Nosedive whispered as he gave in to the arms holding onto him at last, repeating the words over and over again to himself.  
  
"I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere, I promise," Wildwing insisted, inwardly glad that his brother wasn't fighting anymore. Not really paying attention to the others, he started to hum softly, a song that Nosedive had always loved when he was little back on Puckworld. Hopefully it would help. . .  
  
The teen froze as he heard the sound, blinking a few times. It didn't make any sense to him; only Wildwing knew about that song. But then that would mean. . .  
  
Nosedive looked up into his brother's eyes, finally showing a few glints of recognition, ". . .Wing?"  
  
Wildwing stopped humming only long enough to answer, "Right here."  
  
This was too much for Nosedive, as he realized that he wasn't seeing an illusion this time. He rested his head against Wildwing's chest as a few tears fell down his face. Feeling Wildwing wrap his arms around him tighter, his mind started to shut down. Soon he could hear nothing but his brother's soft humming, and even that slowly faded from his mind.  
  
Wildwing couldn't help but smile as he watched Nosedive close his eyes and relax into him. It looked like he was going to be okay. There would be some effort involved for both himself and Nosedive, but Wildwing had a feeling that he would make it through this all right, just like he always did.  
  
After waiting until he was certain that Nosedive had gone back to sleep, his breaths soft and steady, Wildwing looked up at the others.  
  
"Is the Migrator running?" he asked softly, gently running his hand through Nosedive's hair.  
  
Tanya nodded in response as the engine came to life, which was protesting a little from the damage it had obtained.  
  
Duke looked back from the driver's seat after starting up the Migrator, "For now, anyways."  
  
Wildwing nodded slightly, turning his attention back to his little brother. He was starting to feel the effects of what had happened himself, his worry and his energy lost from rushing back becoming noticeable again. The others were probably wondering what had happened to Canard, but he just couldn't say anything about it right now. They'd find out soon enough.  
  
"Good enough. Let's get back, then."  
  
*****  
  
Chameleon winced as Dragaunus's growl of rage echoed throughout the Raptor. The Saurian overlord was definitely not happy about the turn of events. After all, his prized prisoner was gone, and the one who had captured him was also no longer under his command.  
  
"Get out of my sight!" he fumed at the henchmen, who quickly left the room, other than Wraith.  
  
Wraith didn't want to upset Dragaunus any more than he already was, but he felt that he needed to say something, anyways.  
  
"My lord, surely you can use this to your advantage. . Canard may be out of our reach for now, but now Wildwing will be depressed that he could not help him. And besides," he added, "The psychological effects on the teen duck will last longer than Canard's loyalty, and that will keep them all distracted."  
  
Dragaunus thought about his words for a minute, "Of course, that's it! We'll let them lick their wounds for now, and strike again when they least expect it." He grinned evilly, already in a better mood. "Why didn't you think of that, Wraith?"  
  
The mystical Saurian blinked, knowing better than to contradict Dragaunus at this point, ". . Because my wisdom does not match yours, my lord."  
  
"Just you wait, Ducks. . ." Dragaunus growled. The Mighty Ducks would not stop him again; he would make sure of it.  
  
*****  
  
It was a week after all of the events had taken place, and things were just barely starting to return to normal at the Pond.  
  
Everyone had been helping take care of things, more so than usual because most of Wildwing's time was spent helping Nosedive get over the paranoia he had developed, reassuring the teen that they were both fine now. Apparently Wraith's influence had a few long term effects on Nosedive that would take a while to go away completely, such as spacing out for periods of time and jumping at every little sound. He was getting much better, though, which encouraged everyone quite a bit. It was obvious that Nosedive was still scared, but he would eventually be back to normal.  
  
Wildwing chuckled softly as he felt the smaller figure next to him press a little closer into his side. He could tell that Nosedive was only pretending to be asleep, but he figured that wouldn't be the case for too long, so he didn't say anything about it, wrapping his arm around Nosedive's shoulders instead.  
  
Shifting Nosedive to a more comfortable position, Wildwing started thinking about the whole incident again. He sighed softly. What had happened to Canard? Where was he at now? Was he okay? He had too many questions, and no answers to most of them.  
  
He partially understood why Canard hadn't wanted to go back with him. Dragaunus had gotten to his mind, and forced him to hurt his former teammates. Knowing Canard like he did, he knew that he was probably ashamed of himself. And until he could forgive himself, Wildwing probably wouldn't hear from him again. He could only hope that he would hear something soon. . .  
  
Wildwing smiled as he realized that Nosedive had finally gone to sleep after staying with him for well over an hour. At least one thing had gone right.  
  
Now all he could do was wait and see what the future held for him, his brother, and his team. And perhaps someday the team would be complete again, and they would accomplish their mission together.  
  
The End  
  
A/N: It's done! I realize that this took me a year and a half to finish, but at least I did it, rofl. Now I can continue on with my sequel, which I hope to have the first part done by the end of the week. Thanks to all of my reviewers, who encouraged me not to give up and quit when I got stuck. And thanks to Ice for fixing this for me and for all of the input I got from both her and Lily. *Hugs them both* Later! ^^ 


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